Germantown High Grad Bill Cosby Thinks Germantown High Should Close

Germantown High is closing at the end of this school year, but one of its most famous alumni—Bill Cosby—isn’t shedding any tears. He told NewsWorks why in a May interview that’s just now being published:

“I gave a talk there maybe four years ago, and on the way there, the area felt drug-infested.

“When I got up on stage, they said, ‘Here’s Bill Cosby to talk to you, students.’ I looked out and they were looking back at me like I’m the problem. Kids laughing, not paying any attention, not wanting to be there. Some were just sitting there and trying to look angry; some really were angry.

“Ordinarily I’d say it’s a shame and just do my talk. But, I said look, some of you may not care, but a lot of you don’t know what you’re future is going to be. You may think you do, but you don’t. Without credentials, an education, whatever it is you want for your future, it’s not going to happen for you.”

Cosby said that years of diminishing enrollment force administrators to make such choices. “When this all came about, we were looking at it, and Johnny Baines called and said we should get out and protest. I said, ‘John, it’s too late.’ The ministers, the politicians, they know that’s the truth.”